Eric Schmidt runs the biggest single blog network in the world, which makes it all the more bizarre that the Google CEO was insulting bloggers at a newspaper conference today. Was it something we said, Eric?

Here's what Schmidt told the American Society of News Editors by way of trying to ingratiate himself with the print media crowd, a veritable viper's nest of Google haters (via Nieman Lab):

There is an art to what you do. And if you're ever confused as to the value of newspaper editors, look at the blog world. That's all you need to see.

Of course, as the overlord of Google's Blogger.com, Schmidt stands to profit from the unruliness of said "blog world;" Blogger still attracts far more visits than chief rivals Twitter and Wordpress, according to Quantcast and others. Perhaps, when he spoke, Schmidt had some non-Blogger blogs in mind. Like his ex-mistresses'. In any case, it sounds like the Google chief is as uncomfortable with blogging, as practiced at Blogger.com, as he is saving and searching his old email, as practiced at GMail. Are there any Google products he does enjoy using?